The invention relates to a fastening system for hanging, mountable overhead containers, such as baggage compartments in aircraft, with at least one pair of support lugs attached to a support structure or to an overhead container, with a pin for the detachable interconnection of the support lugs, and with receptacle sleeves for the pin, wherein these sleeves are attached to the support lugs and are flush with each other in a mounted position of the overhead container. Below, such a fastening system is indeed described in its use for the mounting of overhead containers, such as baggage compartments, on the support structure of aircraft, but such a fastening system could be used anywhere the task is to mount hanging overhead containers. One support lug provided with the pin guide is indeed fastened advantageously to the support structure, but the support lugs of a pair could be interchanged. In the development of cabins for newer types of aircraft, such as, for example, the Airbus A350, one goal is to design each element to be fastened to the fuselage of the aircraft, such as restrooms, galleys, passenger seats, cabin power networks, cabin lighting, and air nozzles, overhead containers, and rear-panel shelves, as a complete cabin module, wherein, however, all of the connection points should be constructed as flexible, standardized interfaces and wherein simplified fastener designs should be used that allow assembly and disassembly without the use of tools (cf., the article “Cabin Development—New Approach for the A350—Cabin Customization,” One (magazine), German edition, Dec. 18, 2006, pg. 23).
In a known fastening system of the type noted above, which is used for the hanging assembly of baggage compartments in aircraft, more than three persons are required for the assembly of each baggage compartment. At least three persons lift the baggage compartment into an assembly position. The support lugs of each pair are connected to each other by a respective bolt (which is a loose part). For the assembly of these bolts, special tools, such as hammers, pliers, etc. are required. Furthermore, the known fastening system does indeed allow a secure fastening of the baggage compartments to the support structure, wherein the fastening system distinguishes itself through light weight, good force absorption, low parts prices, and a small number of components, but in contrast to these features, it has long assembly and disassembly times, a relatively large number of persons required for the assembly and disassembly of a baggage compartment, and the requirement of tools. The loose bolts can also be lost. These restrictions lead to the result that, in the cabin configuration of aircraft, attention must be given to managing with as few variants as possible. This is associated with a loss of flexibility in the cabin configuration. A disadvantageous effect is that the disassembly is complicated, because the bolts can be detached again only with difficulty and typically only with special tools.
From the document EP 0 514 957 A1, a fastening system for hanging mountable overhead containers such as baggage compartments on an airplane is known, that uses suspended mounting rails that are attached to the fuselage of the aircraft. The baggage compartments are mounted rollers which engage in longitudinal cavities formed in the rails. To lock the hanging-mounted luggage compartments, two types of locks are used, namely, overhead bars, which are fastened to the rails and keep the wheels on the rails, but manually releasable, so that the rollers and thus the luggage compartments can be removed from the rails. The second type of locking is done by outboard couplings, the compartments are mounted on the ceilings and engage outboard bolts which are fastened to the supporting structure. The outboard bolts are coupled to the overhead rails and work simultaneously with the overhead rails. A mechanic can manually operate the overhead bars, whereby both the overhead bars as well as moving the outboard latch in the unlocked position allow removal of the ceiling compartment. The outboard bolts are used to further secure the baggage compartments in their position however, they do not provide a support function for the suspended installation of baggage compartments.